Ossipee couple arrested for possession, sale of drugs

OSSIPEE - A Chickville Road couple was arraigned in 3rd Circuit District Division Court on Monday after being charged on Friday with the alleged sale and possession of heroin and oxycodone.

Members of the Ossipee Police Department, New Hampshire State Police and Carroll County Sheriff's Department arrested the couple, Curt Dow, 49, and his wife, Alice Call Dow, 35, following a four-month investigation into the alleged sale of drugs.

.Ossipee Police Chief James Eldridge said due to the high risk involved, including knowledge that Curt Dow, a convicted felon, may be in possession of firearms, police used a high degree of caution.

Curt Dow was arrested in his vehicle on Chickville Road at about 10:30 a.m. on Friday; his wife was arrested at the couple's residence at 220 Chickville Road...Eldridge said following the shooting death of Greenland Police Chief Michael Maloney last year, the department now conducts risk assessments with every felony level arrest scenario, especially those where the suspect is known to possess firearms or drugs...Eldridge said Alice Call Dow's two teenage children were not at home at the time of the arrests. The children are now in foster care pending an investigation by the New Hampshire Division of Children, Youth and Families...Curt Dow is charged with three counts of sale of a controlled or narcotic drug, two counts of possession of a controlled/narcotic drug, one count of possession of drugs with intent to sell, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The firearms include at least one shotgun and six or seven other guns...Alice Call Dow is charged with one count of sale of a controlled/narcotic drug, one count of possession of a controlled drug with intent to sell, and two counts of possession of controlled/narcotic drugs...The couple appeared together for arraignment before Special Justice James Patten after spending the weekend in custody.

Ossipee Police Department Detective Sgt. Robert King Jr., the department's prosecutor, requested that Curt Dow be held on $20,000 cash or corporate surety bail, citing his record of two felony drug convictions, the potential of additional drug charges, and because Dow allegedly possessed and then ingested a drug when he was brought to jail..."He could be a flight risk due to the lengthy potential jail term," said King.

Curt Dow said he was living on disability checks and there was "no way" he could come up with the money. He later asked the judge if he could put up his tractor-trailer truck to raise the bail..."We'll need to have a hearing on source of the funds. We don't want the fruits of crime to pay for bail release," said Patten, who set bail at $10,000 cash or corporate surety.

King requested that Alice Call Dow be held on $10,000 cash/surety bail. In both cases, King asked that a source of funds hearing be held in the event the Dows came up with the cash to assure the funds were not from alleged drug sales...In her defense, Alice Call Dow said she would not receive the proper treatment for her diabetes condition at the jail and had been given expired insulin. She said she required four insulin shots per day, but was given only two shots per day at the jail. She said her children's biological father is in state prison and that she has no other family in the area..."I wish to be released on personal recognizance," she said.

Judge Patten set her bail at $2,500 cash/surety, again with the stipulation that a source of funds hearing be held to assure the money was not from illegal proceedings...In a related case, another suspect, James Brooks, 29, of Rochester, remains at large after he escaped from a camper behind the Dow's residence on Sunday.

Eldridge said police officers returned to check the house on Sunday when they found the home and the camper in the adjacent property had been broken into...Eldridge said when police encountered Brooks at the camper they called for backup after hearing what could have been the sound of loading a weapon.

Brooks ran from the scene, but police and K-9 unit dogs were unable to track him...Brooks is wanted for sale of controlled drugs and resisting arrest. Eldridge said Brooks is a known acquaintance of the Dows.

"Drugs and drug dealers are not going to be tolerated," said Eldridge.

"There will be more active warrants," he added, directing his last message to suspected dealers..."We will be knocking on your door soon," he said.